The back story on Michael Peroutka, the Maryland GOP candidate with secessionist ties

When the GOP's candidate for Anne Arundel County's Fifth Councilmanic District, Michael Anthony Peroutka, was running as the Constitution Party's candidate for U.S. president in 2004, City Paper published my 6,000-word profile of him. The piece was borne of CP's interest in highlighting alternative political perspectives, and started out as an attempt to do a straightforward profile of a third-party candidate. Work on the piece very quickly took me down a series of rabbit holes, though, turning up complicated information about a complex and seemingly disturbing man with a polished veneer of telegenic charisma. Now that Peroutka is back in the news, this back story may prove interesting to readers, especially Fifth District voters deciding whether to vote for Peroutka or the Democrat, Patrick Armstrong.